Overall Design

"Quality" was a relatively heavyweight robot that used 5 motors and 3 servos. Because of this, our chassis used a gear ratio of 125:1, as a lot of torque was required to move across the playing field. We also required a servo-operated extension for our tray in order to fit within the 1' x 1' x 1' size constraint.

Gearbox-Spinning Mechanism

In order to spin the gearboxes and claim territories, "Quality" used two wheels that protruded from its back end. For this mechanism, we used a gear ratio of 10:1, as we needed to spin the gears many times, so speed was a priority over torque. The two wheels were operated by a single motor that operated at max velocity.

Arm

To pull the lever and mine ping pong balls, "Quality" used a servo-operated arm that approached the lever directly from the top. In order to fit within the 1' x 1' x 1' size constraint, this arm began each match locked in an upright position, and then rotated downwards to match the height of the lever.

Tray

To transport ping pong balls from territories to our goal, "Quality" used a slanted tray with a servo-operated door at the back end. In order to ensure that mined ping pong balls fell into the tray, we constructed a small servo-operated extension that expanded the total width of our robot past the 1' starting restriction. Mined resources would fall into this extension before sliding down into the main tray and resting up against the back door.